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Thursday, 6 January 2011

In my continued development of an elementalist class for Labyrinth Lord, one of the main things that's needed are new elemental creatures which can be summoned. I'm hoping to end up with a full range of elemental creatures, from the lowly to the epic, and a bunch of spells to summon them. First on my mental "to do" list of monsters were elementals of equivalent power to the standard four, but originating from different elemental planes.

ElementalsIn addition to the planes composed of the four classical elements (fire, air, earth & water) and the elementals which dwell there, a range of other elemental planes exist which are in turn inhabited by their own unique elementals. A selection of such creatures is given below. The exact nature of the cosmological connection between the classical elemental planes and these new planes is left to the Labyrinth Lord to decide. It could be that they are simply lesser, or lesser-known, elemental planes, or they could alternatively be viewed as sub-planes which are formed where two of the classical elemental planes meet.

The choice also exists as to whether the magic-user spell conjure elemental can be used to summon these new creatures, or whether their summoning is only possible by means of a special magic item or obscure new spell.

They are described in the same format as the classical elementals, with three different sizes ranging from 8 to 16 Hit Dice.

Mud elementals appear as a seething slimy mass of ooze and silt. For every hit die possessed they are 2' in diameter and 1/2' high. They attack by lashing out with sticky waves of goo, attempting to drag victims into their ooze. A target which is successfully hit by one a mud elemental will be pulled into its mass and automatically suffer smothering damage each round. Mud elementals can smother any number of victims, but can only make an attack against one new target per round.

A mud elemental's form is completely mutable, allowing it to move through very small spaces such as the gap beneath a door. They are equally at home on land or in water.

Frost elementals appear as giant humanoids made of frost and ice, and are 2' high for every hit die possessed. They freeze water on touch - up to 100 square feet per round, up to a depth of 6 inches. When in contact with snow or ice a frost elemental regenerates 1d6 hit points per round. They suffer half damage from cold based attacks, and double damage from fire.

Lava elementals appear as giant roughly shaped humanoids made of magma and volcanic rock. They are 2' high for every hit die possessed. Lava elementals are surrounded by a 20' radius area of searing heat - causing metals to heat up. Upon the second round within range, all characters using metallic weapons or armour suffer 1d4 hit points damage. On the 3rd and subsequent rounds in the creature's presence, metal using characters suffer 2d4 hit points damage and others suffer 1d4 hit points damage. Any wooden objects touching a lava elemental burst into flame.

Ash elementals appear as a creeping mass of black ash and smoke. For every hit die possessed they are 2' in diameter and 1/2' high. Their attacks cause damage by dessication and choking. Anyone within 20' of an ash elemental must save versus poison or suffer -2 to attack rolls due to the blinding smoke. The touch of an ash elemental is toxic to plants - normal plants wither and die, while plant-like monsters automatically suffer 1d8 hit points damage per round.

Steam elementals appear as an amorphous cloud of searing steam approximately 2' in diameter per hit die. They attack by condensing their form and enveloping a target, causing damage by burning. The creature's heat is such that it kills any normal plants or insects it comes into contact with, and causes 1d6 hit points damage to all creatures within 20'.